Sun Jul 17 2005
Community Organizers Jailed for Standing up for the First Amendment
July 12th, 8pm: A rally and vigil for David and Danae started at the Federal courthouse at 8pm, and soon after moved to the Federal Prison down the street. With chants of "Civil Rights are under attack, what do we do? Act Up, Fight Back!" and "Freedom Now!" the 35 demonstrators got responses both from the prisonsers inside (who banged on the windows) and the guards outside (who threatened to arrest anyone on Federal Property). Photos from the Rally
5pm: Michael Cardenas has finished testifying and has been dismissed. He expressed that he does not feel that he shared any information that wasn't already publicly available or already known to the prosecutors. Detailed account
3pm: Danae Kelley and David Agranoff have been taken into federal custody.
Photos from Press Conference
10 am: The judge denied all motions to dismiss the subpoena. The three activists were ordered to go back in court at 1 p.m. to testify and answer all questions from the grand jury. If they refuse to answer questions, the activists will be remanded into custody for as long as the grand jury is convened, or up to 18 months.
Last month, a number of activists were subpoenaed to testify before federal grand juries in both northern and southern California. (San Francisco Grand Jury Coverage) A bay area teach-in on grand juries, entitled The Master’s Tools: How the Government Manipulates the Legal System to Suppress Dissent, was held July 12th at AK Press in Oakland.
Background Report on San Diego Grand Jury
